When most people rattle off the names of great blues guitarists, they name such British stalwarts as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Of course, this does a total disservice to the African-American luminaries they all learned from, including Buddy Guy, T-Bone Walker, Albert Collins, B.B., Freddie and Albert King, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf.

Sue Foley, tearing it up in Ridgefield. She’s a one-guitar woman. (Jim Motavalli photo)

And let’s not forget the women: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Geeshie Wiley, Etta Baker, Elizabeth Cotten and Memphis Minnie included. But the discrimination against women in this field is still continuing. Proof is the show I saw August 20 at CHIRP in Ridgefield, Connecticut—the Sue Foley Trio.

How this woman remains below the radar is beyond me. I first heard her in approximately 1994, following the release of her first album, Young Girl Blues (1992). Amazingly enough, the same guitar that’s one the cover is the one she played in Ridgefield.  

The Canada-born Foley is simply an astounding blues guitarist, a very accomplished songwriter, a fine singer (reminding me a bit of Bonnie Raitt, complete down to the red hair), and an amiable leader. In Ridgefield, she played one amazing song after the other, with solos that made the hair on my arms stand up. Here’s proof, a song called “Fool’s Gold.” For some reason, the vocals didn’t come through clearly. But the guitar sure does:

Again, I can only surmise that sexism is holding her back. If you offered a blindfold test with one of her solos and told people it was the vaunted Stevie Ray Vaughan, then the critics would sit up and listen. Or maybe it’s Foley’s refusal to compromise. The aforementioned Bonnie Raitt long ago crossed over, but she became a pop star and largely left unadulterated blues music behind. Eric Clapton claims to be a blues purist but his most popular music is laid-back pop.

Foley acknowledges the blues women on acoustic. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Foley’s most recent record is One Guitar Woman (A Tribute to The Female Pioneers of Guitar), covering artists like Memphis Minnie on her acoustic. In Ridgefield, she opened her show solo and played some songs from it, including Elizabeth Cotton’s “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie” and Minnie’s “In My Girlish Days.” A highlight of that set was Foley’s own “Maybelle’s Guitar,” a tribute to that Carter Family stalwart and proof Foley listens to country, too.

Foley is 56, and much of that time has been spent on the road, playing blues all over the world. She’s built up a following—the park was crowded the night I saw her—but a wider public should be hers.

APQ takes a bow. Shah is at right, Ross second from right. Rudy Royston is a regular fill-in on drums. And Nakamura is an outstanding bass player. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Also in local live shows, I saw the wonderful American Patchwork Quartet at the Levitt Pavilion in Westport, Connecticut. It’s fusion music at its best, combining Falguni Shah, a 11th generation Hindustani classical vocalist with the Americana and old-time folk of Clay Ross, founder of the Gullah group Ranky Tanky. The Japanese bassist is Yasushi Nakamura, and the drummer (on the record) is Ellis Marsalis protégé Clarence Penn, but in Westport it was acclaimed jazz player Rudy Royston.

Ross and Shah do a great job of explaining what they’re doing to folks just out for a good time. As they put it, “APQ is a deliberately designed homage to America’s past and a showcase of its dynamic present.” The cultures blend wonderfully well, particularly on their takedown of the ancient folk tune “The Devil’s Nine,” a/k/a “The Devil’s Nine Questions.” Mark how Shah colors the English tradition with her own roots music:

Amy Helm’s star has risen. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Also at Levitt was a reunion of the group Ollabelle, getting some recognition now as Amy Helm’s star rises. Check out her fine Silver City release. The eponymous Ollabelle album came out in 2004, when there weren’t all that many old-timey releases around. I guess they were ahead of their time, but I loved it and played it often on WPKN for their take on “How Long?” (acapella), “See Line Woman” (via Nina Simone), “John the Revelator” (via Son House), “Soul of a Man” (via Blind Willie Johnson), “Storms are on the Ocean” (Carter Family), and “Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos” (every Village folkie, including Bob Dylan).

Olabelle are back! (Jim Motavalli photo)

Helm, the Australia-born Fiona McBain and keyboard player Glenn Paschka all have excellent voices, and they worked up quite a head of steam for a group that’s been dormant for a while. It was nice to hear they’re working on a new album, because the last one was in 2011. As we were walking out, McBain was giving “Brokedown Palace” by the Grateful Dead a workout.

The Saugatuck Rowing Club dates only to 1990, but it looks older. Its original proprietor was Dr. Howard Winkelvoss, and it’s where his famous twin sons learned to row under Coach James Mangan. It continues to produce champion rowers, including, may I boast, my cousin’s children.

Still, I hadn’t been there until August 4, my birthday, and the most recent concert in the First Folk Sunday series, produced by the team of Rozanne Gates and Suzanne Sheridan. The latter (below), possessed of a big, warm voice, is also a working singer-songwriter, and opened the show with a short and charming set of covers (Richard Farina, Joni Mitchell, Karla Bonoff) and originals—including a very personal song about her uncle Mike. “Daydreaming,” another original, was jazzy and enveloping.

Suzanne Sheridan. (Jim Motavalli photo)

They concluded, Gates adding vocals, on “90-Pound Housewife Driving in her SUV.” This amusing novelty song, co-written with Gates, managed a placement on a Car Talk CD, where it was much requested. I was the Magliozzi brothers’ blogger; well do I remember this one making a splash.

The series stays close to home. Lisa Bastoni may live (and teach art part-time) in Northampton, Massachusetts now, but she’s a native Westporter, and her mother and even some of her teachers were in the audience.

Lisa Bastoni and Sean Staples. (Jim Motavalli photo)

Bastoni is not well-known yet, but she should be. She’s a really exceptional singer-songwriter, strong on both sides of the hyphen. She was accompanied, on vocals and mandolin, by the fleet-fingered Sean Staples.

Rather than list some titles, which would be meaningless to you, I’m just going to cite some fine lyrics from Bastoni’s songs.

“Two orange peels in perfect spirals.”

“Stars dancing on the waves, in my neighbor’s brand-new pool.”

“Just because there’s a ladder doesn’t mean you have to climb.”

“How’d you ever learn to play the blues in this town.” (That one was about a high school crush who sang Robert Johnson songs at the local deli and delivered pizzas for the parlor next door. The high point of their relationship was when he asked her to accompany him on his rounds.)

“I don’t know your favorite color, but I’m going to guess it’s blue.”

“Let’s look at houses we can’t afford.”

“You’re as close to me as a coat in winter.”

“There’s nothing I can say you can’t see through.”

The afternoon concluded with Bastoni remarking that the hometown appearance “exceeded my expectations of what it would be like to appear here.”

The shows continue with Sheridan performing the music of Joni Mitchell (September 1) with Bob Cooper and Cat Lines; The Flying Fingers Jug Band (a hit last season, October 6); and a Woody Guthrie tribute with many performers (November 3).

The test cars keep on coming, presenting an amazing cross-section of what Americans are driving—or will soon be. The average price of a new car is creeping up, and was at a sobering $47,433 in July, says Cox Automotive. These vehicles, mostly SUVs and pickups, are being laden down with all the latest technology—which excites buyers these days more than engines do.

Electric vehicles had a bad first quarter in the U.S., but sales zoomed upward from there by 23 percent in the second. And in that period they were up 14 percent from the same quarter in 2023. Prices for EVs are coming down, which should help sales.

2024 Toyota Crown. You’re forgiven for missing the Crown the first time around, because Toyota was barely known then. This upmarket offering was sold in the U.S. from 1958 to 1972, when it was replaced by a car my mother bought the Corona Mark II. Meanwhile, in Japan and other markets the Crown went through 16 generations.

The crossover Crown we have today was launched in 2022, the first to be sold in the U.S. for 50 years. It certainly stands out in a parking lot, looking halfway between a sedan and an SUV. The effect is not unpleasant. And the hybrid vehicle is an amazingly smooth driver, with lots of creamy torque available.

As equipped the Crown is powered by a 2.4-liter turbocharged four, with permanent AWD and an impressive 340 net horsepower. Despite the power, it’s good for 32 miles per gallon on the highway and 29 in the city. It comes loaded with safety equipment, with no options necessary. The only real drawback to this lovely car is its price, $54,590 as equipped.

Most Crowns will have more modest bottom lines, coming as they do with a 236-horsepower drivetrain and even better fuel economy. That should be OK many buyers. The pricing starts at $42,575.

2024 Toyota bZ4X AWD Limited. Toyota is currently riding high on hybrid sales, but also weathering a testing scandal. The company has been very cautious about EVs, and the bZ4X is its first, co-developed with another latecomer, Subaru (which calls it Solterra).

Tested was the upmarket Limited trim with two motors of 80 kilowatts each and AWD. Total horsepower is a modest 214. The Limited adds such niceties as heated seats, a glass roof, adaptive cruise control and useful safety tech. It’s a competent EV—for a first effort—but it feels like Toyota’s attention is still elsewhere. The battery is a 65.5-kilowatt-hour unit in the dual-motor version, with an estimated range of around 228 miles. That’s not horrible these days, but 300 would be much more reassuring. The EV competition is strong.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy 2.5T AWD. As noted, it’s difficult to stand out in the hyper-competitive crossover field, but the all-new Santa Fe manages it. Everything about this car feels crisply styled, fresh and innovative.

The Santa Fe is now larger, with more storage and passenger space, a third row of seats, and styling that stands out—something that’s hard to do within the boxy confines of the SUV cues. The rear view is particularly felicitous—you’ll know when you’re following one of these. The car is comfortable, with a well-laid-out, spacious interior. And it drives and handles well.

The Santa Fe is available as a hybrid, but the tester had the turbo 2.5-liter inline four with 277 horsepower and an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. Bigger is thirstier, so the 23 mpg combined isn’t impressive. Definitely check out the hybrid, which starts at $36,950 and yields up to 36 mpg combined. As tested in loaded form the Santa Fe was $50,375.

2024 Lexus TX 550h+ Luxury PHEV AWD. We’re starting to see more and more models with plug-in hybrid and hybrid options, and this three-row Lexus has both. In the as-tested PHEV form the Lexus has more than 30 miles of EV-only range. It’s also got a total of 404 horsepower on tap from its combination of 3.6-liter V-6 and two electric motors (for AWD), coupled to a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

The Lexus was big and impressive and drove quietly, with imperceptible transition from electric power to internal combustion. It has plenty of luxury touches. Going to the Luxury trim adds a whole lot of features, including lots of leather, a power folding third row, and a Mark Levinson stereo. But the bottom line in this form is a hefty $82,619. A less-expensive alternative is a modestly equipped TX 500h Hybrid (27 mpg city and 28 highway), which uses a 2.4-liter four and, again, two electric motors, for 366 horsepower.